


It's All Wrong

by AlwaysACuteMess



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Casual Relationships - Freeform, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of Crying, Physical Abuse, Sexual Assault, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:25:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9889883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysACuteMess/pseuds/AlwaysACuteMess
Summary: Everything about Dan's texts seemed off. Strange. Harried. When he finally gets in, you barely know how to handle him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> axolotlNerd was warned. If there is someone to blame for the appearance of this story... Also mind the tags. Heavy stuff ahead.

You’d missed Dan’s initial text by about an hour, wrapped up in something very time sensitive and just on the verge of being completed. Still, once you were done, you felt bad that you’d missed it. Mostly because it felt off. Nothing about it was strange, though, which made the feeling of unease reading it back compound harder. Dan often liked to spend time at your place, when he could get a minute. And his schedule was often packed so tight that when something fell off unexpectedly or he actually realized he had the time, he’d text you with no prior warning. That’s not to say that you never had times where you made plans to hang out but... spontaneity in the face of his tightly wound schedule was just more your thing. Or at least the thing that happened, anyway.

It didn’t bother you. You liked spending time with him. Immensely so. He was charming and sweet and a really good friend. A complicated one, sometimes, and not just for the reason that you two had gone to bed once or twice with one another. It wasn’t really too much of an issue, honestly. Just for the fact that you tried not to catch feelings for him and had failed. But that you didn’t want to risk losing him as a friend was far more important to you, so you didn’t mind his overly affectionate ways- or sleeping with him- just as a friend. Even if that’s not what you really wanted deep down.

Still. This wasn’t about you.  
Dan had asked if he could spend the night, which could have meant really a myriad of different things. Just talking and watching movies until late or falling asleep together immediately or even sleeping together- there were options. But the offness of the situation made it hard to tell what he really wanted.

Even so-  
_Sure thing. Bring dinner?_

Whatever it was that he wanted, whichever scenario you’d find yourself in with him this evening, you didn’t really care. Just getting to see him would be nice. He’d sort of dropped off the face of the earth for a few weeks, which was also a normal affair. He knew too many people and did too many things. He was a bit of a rarity. One you didn’t take lightly. You weren’t the only one who loved him.

_Yeah. Thanks._

But there it was again. He’d answered you nearly immediately.  
He hadn’t asked what you’d wanted. It didn’t really matter too much, you weren’t incredibly picky. Really, out of the two of you, it was him who had the stricter diet. But... still. It felt weird. It was strange. But for no reason other than a coiling feeling in your gut. Hopefully you were wrong. So you put it out of your mind as you straightened up the house just a little in preparation for him. Maybe your appearance, just a little, too.

Then there he was. You saw the shine of his headlights in your driveway as he pulled up in his car, heard the slam of his car door, and his heavy footfalls as he briskly walked into the house. Worry began to rise. He was hurried. Anxious about something. He came into the kitchen, incidentally where you were finishing up washing the last plate in your sink, and dropped a box of pizza on the table. Just pizza.

Was he planning on not eating? You knew he didn’t like pizza- or rather that it didn’t really agree with him. Anxiety pooled. Something really wasn’t right. He offered you a tired and very fake smile. Something that seemed so out of place on his lips.

“Hey. Sorry- I uh...” His hand went up to muss his hair.

You weren’t really sure what he was apologizing for but you gave him an easy shrug. “No problem.” Whatever it was, it was easy to forgive.

Turning towards your fridge he pulled it open. “Do you have- uh- oh.” You thought he might ask for Pepsi or something similarly sugary, but instead he pulled a beer out of a six-pack in the back of your fridge. Something someone had brought for new years that had since gone untouched. “Mind if I open this?”

Now something was really wrong. It wasn’t just _you_.  
It was most certainly _him_.

Drying your hands on the dish towel you gave him a curt nod, unable to help the frown on your lips. He twisted off the cap, leaving it on your counter, taking a few dissatisfied sips, cringing at the bitterness. “Hey, babe, are you okay?” Reaching up carefully you slid your hand along his arm in what you hoped was a comforting manner.

The next smile he offered was a broken one. “I don’t-“

Know, you assumed he was going to say, which was troubling all its own, but he was cut mid-thought by a strong buzz in his coat pocket. His phone going off. Instead of looking at it or even taking it out to turn it off, he shrugged out of his jacket and slung it on the back of a nearby chair, as if the phone had tainted the whole outfit now. Then he carefully untied his scarf from his neck. The fashion choice didn’t really seem odd to you, he was always bundled up in some for or another, even if it was California. It had just rained, too, so it was cooler than usual.

But as he threw that haphazardly on the chair with his coat, panic surged through you. There on the delicate column of his throat on the sides of his Adam’s apple were two distinct round bruises. “Dan-“ The breath stolen right out of you as if someone had punched you in the gut.

His hand found yours, shaking as he slid your fingers together and pulled you out of the kitchen and into the living room. Far out of the noise range of his vibrating phone- still going. On and off. Once sitting right up next to him you couldn’t stop looking at the marks. He swallowed hard, only enunciating them as his throat shifted lightly with the movement. “This- this is so fucked up-“ He sounded broken so suddenly and when you looked up you saw the mist in his eyes.

“What happened?” Something dire. Something awful. Who would do anything like that to someone like him? You sat in shocked silence while he twitched through smiling to frowning to nervousness, patiently waiting for him to figure out how it is he wanted to tell you this. If he even did. The longer he just sat there going through one emotional movement to the next you started to think he was drifting further than you could reach.

So you took his hand in yours again, squeezing, and his eyes came back to yours. A little more cognizant this time around. “It’s- I.. it’s really fucking dumb...” There was amusement in his tone but it was of a very self deprecating color. That worried you even more. “This girl I’ve been seeing-“ That could have been anyone, really. You, technically, were a girl he was seeing when the time was right. “-for a little while now-“ So it was serious? You tried to make your brain shut up so you could actually pay attention.

This was important.

“Last night- I- I dunno... we- we were fooling around and- god it’s really dumb. I don’t even- I don’t know how to even get there.” You didn’t like where this was headed. You really, really didn’t. “I know she’s like- into some of the harder shit- but like- I’m not and- we tried to meet each other halfway for a while. I.. I dunno. It was fine. But- last night she was all like, well let’s try this and if you don’t like it I’ll stop but it’ll be amazing- and- I- I don’t know. I said okay- and like- so we started fooling around and getting into it and then she like sits on my chest and put her hands on my throat and I told her no- but- I don’t know- so she backed off and reached behind and started jacking me off and then- I- she got her legs on my arms and like started grinding on my chest and put her hands around my throat and like- she started squeezing. Like- really fucking hard. And- she’s got like really powerful thighs or maybe I’m just a weak sack of shit- because I couldn’t get her off- and I kept telling her no- or- like maybe she couldn’t hear me because I couldn’t get a lot out- and I- like- couldn’t breathe and I- I’m pretty sure I fucking passed out- and I-“

You weren’t really sure when you’d started crying, only realizing it when you’d crawled into his lap and buried your head on his shoulder and heard the muffled sounds of your sniffling against his shirt. “I’m so sorry- god Dan that’s so fucked up- I’m so sorry- I’m so so sorry-“

Who would do that?  
Who would do that to him?  
He seemed unable to comprehend it himself. But what was worse was that he seemed half in the middle of blaming himself for it somehow. And unable to process the rest aside from primal fear and roiling anxiety mixed with deep unsettling upset.

As quick as you’d got yourself to him, he’d melted into you, arms winding around you tightly, holding on. Shivering. The quiet sounds of his own crying echoing in your ear. “Like- what do I even do? Am I- I’ve never been fucking choked out in bed before-“ You heard him force a laugh, which was almost unheard of for him. But then that stopped and you could almost feel the chill that ran through him. “She won’t stop calling me.”

There was a gap there that both needed context and yet didn’t, if he didn’t feel like sharing. You’re not sure when he woke up. Or if she was still there when he had. Or if he ran out on her and had been driving around all day.

And to think you made him pick up dinner.

All you knew was this woman had violated him in bed pretty hard, scared the shit out of him, and now would not stop calling him. And he was scared. Carefully you sat back, taking his cheeks in your palms, wiping his tears away, and sinking your hands back into his hair after. Trying to calm him. “Do you want me to tell her to fuck off?” Because whether or not _he_ did, _you_ really wanted to. But that wasn’t your boundary to cross alone.

He offered you another broken smile. “I shouldn’t- this should be- like.. something I should handle on my own.. right?”

“Fuck that. If you need me to tell her to leave you alone I will. If she knows where you live and won’t go away, you can stay here while we get you a restraining order. You- she **hurt** you. She violated you- violated your trust while you were vulnerable! Fuck her.” Tone steady but stern, just wanting him to shake off that he was somehow alone here because- because you didn’t know what. Because he was a guy? Because a presumably tiny chick had hurt him in bed?

It was all garbage. And he needed to understand that he wasn’t as alone as he thought. Maybe he’d come here to you thinking he just wanted peace of mind and to talk it out until he could figure out what to do next. But fuck that, honestly. You’d fight a war for him. One girl, who most decidedly should walk onto a rushing highway after this, was no trouble at all. You weren’t sure- maybe he felt ashamed. “I... are you sure?” Sniffling shakily, leaning into the feel of your hands threading through his hair.

“Yes, Dan.” Leaning in to press a kiss to his forehead. “I’m sure.”

He nodded lightly, eyes closed. “Then- please...”  
_Please help me._

He didn’t need to say it in so many words. You still heard it. Before getting up you planted one last soft kiss to his forehead and went into the kitchen, grabbing his still buzzing phone from his jacket. Getting past his lock screen revealed ten missed calls and about thirty messages- all from her. And one incoming, phone vibrating in your hands. You opened the call.

Before she could even get a word in you started. As calm as you possibly could, even though you really felt like screaming. “Stop fucking calling him. Don’t try to contact him anymore. Stay away from his house. Because we’ll take it to the police. Do you understand me? You don’t fucking do that to someone- you don’t fucking do that to _him_.” Well. At least you’d _tried_ to be calm.

“Who the fuck is this? Tell him to stop being such a fucking pus-”

“None of your fucking business. Tell me you understand what I’m saying to you- because I’m a lawyer and I will take you to court on his behalf for assault. I will take everything you own. I will put you in jail. You won’t even be able to get a job anymore. You’ll be on a list for the rest of your life. Do you fucking understand me? Do you want that? You want everyone knowing how fucked up you are? Say you understand me.”

“Alright alright! God! Fuck you!” She sounded terrified. And then she was gone.

If it wasn’t Dan’s phone in your hand, you may have smashed it on the floor. Too angry to know what else to do. But when you looked up he was standing in the doorway, smiling- light and tired but real, at least. And then a similarly toned giggle escaped him. “You’re not a lawyer.”

“She doesn’t know that.” As usual, even if the situation was still tightly compacted, his laughter was infectious. “Here, I’m gonna block her number.” You walked over to him while you opened the options and stuck her shitty phone number on the block list.

He made an impressed noise. “Oh- that’s- I didn’t even know you could do that.”

Shaking your head fondly, you handed his phone back to him, leaning up just a little to press a kiss to his cheek. “Yes, you can do that.”

For a moment he stared at his phone as if you’d just cured it of some deadly disease, then he slipped it into his pocket and smiled at you again. “What else can you do?” His arms wound around you, hugging you tight. Still that sort of desperate hug.

He was still hurting. He might be for a long time.  
That was okay.

You hugged him back. “Well.. if you want I can take you to the diner downtown. Pay you back for that pizza neither of us is gonna eat. Get some coffee or- tea and.. maybe some of that cheesecake you like..”

“Sounds good.” His voice moved to broken and watery again as he held on to you. You couldn’t fight back the tears.

“I’m so sorry, Danny...” You were both locked in an anguished embrace. Like a child clutching a teddybear.

“Me, too.”

You didn’t make it to the diner until three A.M. When he’d finally cried himself out and was ready to get up from the kitchen floor. And even though that disgusting woman he said she’d stay away, you both decided it was a good idea for him to stay over for a while.

Just... just because.


End file.
